1. لكلِّ هوىً من رائدِ الحزمِ رادعُ

    وحبّكُمُ ما لم يَزَعْ عنه وازعُ

    Every passion has a curb in the guide of prudence;

    but love for you is what no restraint has checked.

  2. تُحلُّ عقودُ العين مبذولةً له

    وتُشرجُ من ضنٍّ عليه الأضالعُ

    For it the eye's knots are loosened, freely yielded,

    while the ribs are laced shut around it in jealous care.

  3. صفاةٌ على العذَّال لا يصدعونها

    ولو شَقَّ شعباً من أبانَيْنِ صادعُ

    A solid rock that reprovers cannot split,

    even if a cleaver split a gorge in Abanayn.

  4. غرامُ الصبا كيف التفتُّ بصبوةٍ

    إلى غيركم فالقلبُ فيكم ينازعُ

    Youthful passion—however I turn in longing

    toward others than you, my heart contends for you.

  5. يقولون حوليُّ اللقاءِ ونظرةٌ

    مسارِقةٌ حبّ لعمرك قانعُ

    They say: a meeting once a year, and a glance

    stolen in secret—by your life, a love easily contented!

  6. أجيرانَنا أيامَ جمعٍ تعلّةً

    سلوا النَّفْرَ هل ماضٍ من النَّفْرِ راجعُ

    O our neighbors in the days at Jamʿ, for solace,

    ask the departing company: will any who departed return?

  7. وهل لثلاثٍ صالحاتٍ على مِنىً

    ولو أنّ من أثمانه النفسَ فاجع

    And is there, for three happy nights at Mina,

    even were the soul part of the price, one who brings grief?

  8. أُجِنُّ بنجدٍ حاجةً لو بلغتها

    ونجدٌ على مرمَى العراقيِّ شاسعُ

    I harbor a need in Najd—if only I could reach it!

    Yet Najd lies far beyond an Iraqi's reach.

  9. وحلَّ لظبي حرَّم اللَّهُ صيدَه

    دمٌ ساء ما ضلَّت عليه المسامعُ

    And for a gazelle whose hunting God forbade there was made lawful

    blood—how badly the ears have gone astray over it!

  10. يفالتُ أشراكي على ضُعف ما به

    فطارَ بها قَطْعاً وقلبيَ واقعُ

    It slips free of my snares, despite its frailty,

    and flew off with them, tearing them apart, while my heart fell.

  11. وكم ريع بالبطحاء من متودِّع

    وقُلقِلَ ركب للنوى وهو وادعُ

    How many a carefree soul was startled in al-Batha,

    and a tranquil caravan jolted into departure!

  12. ومشرفةٍ غيداءَ في ظهر مشرفٍ

    له عُنُقٌ في مِقود البين خاضعُ

    And many a tall, graceful woman on a tall mount's back,

    its neck bowed beneath separation's leading-rein.

  13. جرى بهم الوادي ولو شئت مسبلاً

    جفوني لقد سالت بهن المدامعُ

    The valley flowed with them; had I wished, letting

    my eyelids stream, tears would have flowed from them.

  14. وبيضاءَ لم تنفر لبيضاءِ لِمّتي

    وقد راع منها ناصلُ الصبغ ناصعُ

    And many a fair woman did not recoil from my hair's whiteness,

    though a gleaming strand, its color gone, had startled her.

  15. رأت نحرَها في لونه فصبتْ له

    وما خلتُ أن الشيبَ في الحبّ شافعُ

    She saw her own throat in its hue and yearned for it;

    I had not thought gray hair could intercede in love.

  16. عفا الخَيفُ إلا أن يعرِّج سائلٌ

    تعلَّة شوقٍ أو يغرّدَ ساجعُ

    Al-Khayf has faded away, save for an inquirer turning aside

    to soothe his longing, or a cooing bird singing,

  17. وإلا شجيجٌ أعجلَ السيرُ نزعَهُ

    عسا فتعافته الرياح الزعازعُ

    and a split tent-peg, left unpulled in the haste of departure;

    it hardened, and the blustering winds spared it.

  18. وفي مثل بطنِ الراح سُحْمٌ كأنها

    ثلاثُ بناناتٍ قضاها مقارعُ

    And in a hollow like the palm of a hand, blackened stones, like

    three fingertips severed by a fighter.

  19. وقفتُ بها لا القلب يصدُق وعدُهُ

    ولا الجفنُ يرضيني بما هو وادعُ

    I stood there: neither does the heart keep its promise,

    nor does the eyelid please me in its repose.

  20. فيا عجبي حتى فؤادي بودّه

    مداجٍ وحتى ماءُ عيني مصانعُ

    How strange! Even my heart, with its love,

    dissembles, and even my tears are cajoling.

  21. أبى طبعُ هذا الدهرِ إلا لجاجةً

    وأتعبُ شيءٍ أن تُحال الطبائعُ

    This age's nature insists on obstinacy alone;

    and nothing is more wearisome than changing natures.

  22. يعزُّ حصا المعزاء والدرُّ هيِّنٌ

    ويشبع عَيْر السرح والليثُ جائعُ

    The gravel of stony ground is prized, while pearls are cheap,

    and the grazing ass is sated while the lion hungers.

  23. وأودعتُه عهداً فعدتُ أرومهُ

    ومن دِينِهِ ألا تردَّ الودائعُ

    I entrusted it with a pledge, then returned to seek it,

    but its creed is that deposits must not be returned.

  24. وأقسمَ لا استرجعتُه ولوَ اَنّهُ

    قضى من شبابي أنه لِيَ راجعُ

    It swore I would not reclaim it, even though

    it decreed in my youth that it would return to me.

  25. هَنَا المانعين اليوم أنَّ سؤالَهم

    مُنىً ما أَملَّتْها عليَّ المطامعُ

    May those who withhold rejoice today: asking them

    is a wish that cravings never dictated to me.

  26. وإني بعنقي من يد المنِّ مفلتٌ

    وما المنُّ في الأعناق إلا جوامعُ

    I am escaping, my neck free of the hand of boasted favor;

    for boasts of favor are nothing but shackles on necks.

  27. وفي الأرض أموال ولكن عوائق

    من اللؤم قامت دونها وموانعُ

    There is wealth in the earth, but obstacles

    of baseness, and barriers, stand before it.

  28. حماها رتاجٌ من صدور شحيحةٍ

    وأيدٍ خبيئات عليها طوابعُ

    A barred gate of miserly hearts protects it,

    and concealed hands with seals upon them.

  29. بأيِّ جِمامِ الماء أرجو عُذوبةً

    إذا أملحت طعمَ الشفاهِ الوقائعُ

    In what gathered waters can I hope for sweetness,

    when blows of fortune have salted the taste of my lips?

  30. وما خلتُني أمشي على البحر ظامئاً

    وخِمس فمي منه بما بلَّ قانعُ

    I never thought I would walk beside the sea, thirsty,

    my mouth's five-day thirst content with any moisture from it.

  31. لعل لفخر الملك آنفَ نظرةٍ

    يعود بها الحقُّ البطيءُ يسارعُ

    Perhaps Fakhr al-Mulk has a fresh glance in store,

    through which tardy justice will return in haste.

  32. وكم مثلها مضمونة عند مجده

    وفَى لي بها والدهرُ عنها يدافعُ

    How many a like glance his glory has guaranteed,

    and he fulfilled for me, though time resisted it!

  33. شفتْ يدُهُ غيظَ البلاد على الصدى

    وردَّت جُرازَ الأرض وهو مراتعُ

    His hand cured the land's rage against thirst,

    and turned barren ground back into pastures.

  34. زكا تحتها التربُ اللئيمُ وأورق ال

    قَتادُ الجفيفُ فهو ريّان يانعُ

    Beneath it, the mean soil flourished, and leafed out the

    dry qatad thornbush, now well-watered and lush.

  35. وجرَّدها بيضاءَ واحدةَ الندى

    وخُضْر البحارِ السبعِ منها نوازعُ

    He bared it, white, peerless in generosity,

    and the green waters of the seven seas draw from it.

  36. وقد زعموا أن لا مردَّ لفائتٍ

    وأنّ الردى يومٌ مَتى حُمَّ قاطعُ

    They have claimed that nothing lost can be brought back,

    and that death, once its day is decreed, severs all;

  37. وهذي العلا والمكرماتُ مَواتُها

    بجودك من تحت التراب رواجعُ

    yet these heights of honor and noble deeds—their dead

    return from beneath the earth through your generosity.

  38. برغم ملوك الأرضِ أنَّ ظهورَهم

    من العجز عما تستحقُّ ظوالعُ

    To the chagrin of earth's kings, their backs

    are crippled by inability to meet your due.

  39. تركتَهُمُ مِيلاً إليك رقابُهم

    فلا تستقمْ من حاسديك الأخادعُ

    You left them with their necks bent toward you;

    may the neck-veins of your enviers never straighten.

  40. وقد سبروا غوريك عفواً ونقمةً

    فما عرفوا من أين ماؤك نابعُ

    They have sounded your two depths, pardon and vengeance,

    yet never learned where your water springs from.

  41. وكنتَ متى تقدحْ بزَندك ثاقباً

    سُرى النجمِ لم تُسدَدْ عَليك المطالعُ

    Whenever you struck your fire-stick, piercing

    the star's night path, no rising-place was barred to you.

  42. وكم قمتَ دون الملك كاشفَ كربةٍ

    تيقَّظ منها الخطبُ والملكُ هاجعُ

    How often you stood in defense of the king, dispelling distress,

    from which disaster woke while the king slept!

  43. وضيّقة الأقطار عمياءَ مالها

    إذا انخرقت من جانب الرأي راقعُ

    And many a crisis, cramped and blind, had no

    mender when torn open on the side of judgment;

  44. تجانبُ مَثناةَ النَّصوحِ فتوقُها

    إذا وصَلتْ أسبابَها فتقاطعُ

    its rifts evade the sincere counselor's doubled cord:

    whenever it joins its cords, they break apart.

  45. تداركتَها بالحزم لا السيفُ قاطعٌ

    حديدته فيها ولا الرمح شارعُ

    You rescued it through resolve: no sword was cutting

    with its steel within it, nor was a spear leveled.

  46. وَلِيتَ بصُغْرَى عزمتيك كبيرَها

    كما دبَّرتْ نزعَ القناةِ الأصابعُ

    With the lesser of your two resolves you mastered its magnitude,

    as fingers guide the drawing of a spear.

  47. وأخرى أبتْ إلا القراعَ رددتَها

    تذمُّ وترضى ما جنته المَقارعُ

    Another crisis, accepting nothing but combat, you sent back

    complaining, yet accepting, what the blows had wrought.

  48. ركبت إليها السيفَ جسمُك حاسرٌ

    وقلبُك من لُبس التصبُّر دارعُ

    You rode the sword toward it, your body unarmored,

    but your heart armored in steadfast endurance.

  49. وفيت بعهدِ الصبر فيها حميَّةً

    وقد غدرت بالراحتين الأصابعُ

    You kept your covenant with patience there, out of zeal,

    though the fingers had betrayed both palms.

  50. ومخطوبةٍ بالكُتب والرُّسْل مهرُها

    غرائبُ أبكار الكلام البدائعُ

    And many a bride wooed with letters and envoys has for dowry

    rare, virgin marvels of speech.

  51. يقوم الخطابُ الفصلُ والجوُّ ساكنٌ

    لديها مقامَ النصلِ والنقعُ ساطعُ

    Decisive speech stands, while the air is still,

    before her, in the blade's place when dust rises.

  52. كتبتَ فأمليت الرياضَ وماءها

    وكالنار وعظٌ تحتها وقوارعُ

    You wrote, dictating gardens and their water,

    with firelike admonition and crushing warnings beneath them.

  53. لك النصرُ فاسمع كيف أُظلَمُ وانتصرْ

    فما تضع الأيامُ من أنت رافعُ

    Victory is yours: hear how I am wronged, and vindicate me;

    for the days cannot abase one whom you raise.

  54. حُرمتُ عطاياك المقسَّمَ رزقُها

    وعاقت مديحي عنك منك موانعُ

    I was denied your gifts, whose bounty is apportioned,

    and barriers from you kept my praise from reaching you.

  55. وحلَّأَني عن بحر جودك راكبٌ

    هواه وقد لاحت لعيني الشرائعُ

    One drove me from the sea of your generosity, riding

    his own desire, though its watering-places were visible to my eye.

  56. ثلاث سنين قد أكلتَ صُبابتي

    فغادرتني شِلواً وذا العامُ رابعُ

    For three years you have consumed what little I had left,

    leaving me a torn limb—and this is the fourth year.

  57. أرى من قريبٍ شملَ عزّي مبدّداً

    وقد كان ظني أنه بك جامعُ

    Close at hand I see my gathered dignity scattered,

    though I had believed it would unite through you.

  58. على كل ماءٍ لامعٍ من نداكُمُ

    سنانٌ من الحظ المماكسِ لامعُ

    Over every gleaming water of your bounty

    a spearpoint of grudging fortune gleams.

  59. أيا جابر المنهاض لم يبق مفصِلٌ

    وإلا ندوبٌ تحته ولواذعُ

    O mender of the broken, not one joint remains

    without scars beneath it and searing pains.

  60. أعيذك بالمجد المحسَّد أن يُرَى

    جنابُك عني ضيّقاً وهو واسعُ

    I seek refuge for you in your envied glory, lest

    your domain seem narrow to me, though it is wide.

  61. وأعجبُ ما حُدِّثتُه حفظُك العلا

    ومثليَ في أيام ملكك ضائعُ

    The strangest thing I have been told is that you preserve high honor

    while one like me is lost in the days of your rule.

  62. أأنطَقُ مني بالفصاحة يُجتبَى

    وأمدحُ إن لفَّتْ عليك المجامعُ

    Is one more eloquent than I to be chosen,

    and more lavish in praise when assemblies throng around you?

  63. أبى اللّه والفضل الذي أنت حاكم

    به لِيَ لو قاضَى إليك منازعُ

    God forbids it, and the excellence you would use to judge

    in my favor, were a rival to bring his suit before you.

  64. وما الشعر إلا النشر بعداً وصورةً

    فلو شاء لم يُطمِعْ يداً فيه رافعُ

    Poetry is but diffusion, in reach and form;

    if he wished, one who raises it would let no hand covet it.

  65. وقد أفل النجمان منه فلا يُضَعْ

    على غير سير ثالثٌ فيه طالعُ

    Its two stars have set, so let there not be placed

    on a different course a third star rising within it.

  66. بقيتُ لكم وحدي وإن قال معشر

    ففي القول ما تنهاك عنه المسامعُ

    I alone remain for you; though a company may speak,

    their speech contains what ears would bid you shun.

  67. ولو شئت بي أخفَى زهيرٌ ثناءهُ

    على هَرِمٍ أيّام تُجزَى الصنائعُ

    Had you wished, through me Zuhayr would have concealed his praise

    of Harim, in the days when favors receive their reward,

  68. وما شاع عن حَسّان في آل جفنة

    من السائرات اليومَ ما هو شائعُ

    and what became renowned from Hassan about the house of Jafna,

    among the verses abroad today, would not be renowned.

  69. وكان غبيناً من أميَّةَ من شَرَى

    مديحَ غِياثٍ وهو مغلٍ فبائعُ

    And cheated would be the buyer from Umayya

    of Ghiyath's praise, though he charged dearly as its seller.

  70. على كلّ حال أنتَ معطٍ وكلّهم

    على سَعة الأحوال معطٍ ومانعُ

    In every circumstance you give, while all of them,

    despite their ample means, give and withhold.

  71. وقد وهبوا مثل الذي أنت واهب

    فما سمعوا بعض الذي أنت سامعُ

    They have given the like of what you give,

    but never heard even part of what you hear.

  72. ذرائعُ من فضل عليك اتكالها

    فما بالها تُدنَى وتقصَى ذرائعُ

    Avenues of merit, whose reliance rests on you—

    why are avenues brought near and avenues cast away?

  73. وما لكُمُ واللّهُ يعطف خصبَكم

    على مجدبٍ دنياه منه بلاقعُ

    What ails you, while God turns your abundance

    toward a barren man whose world is empty wastes?

  74. تصان الأسامي عندكم باشتهارها

    وغمض المعاني مهملاتٌ ضوائعُ

    Names are safeguarded among you because they are famous,

    while subtleties of meaning are left neglected and lost.

  75. وموشيَّةٍ حَوكَ البرودِ صفاتُك ال

    حسان تساهيمٌ لها ووشائعُ

    And many a brocaded poem, woven like robes—your qualities, the

    beautiful ones, are its patterned stripes and yarns.

  76. تهبُّ رياحاً في عداك خبيثةً

    وطيباً عليك رَدعُها متسارعُ

    It blows as foul winds among your enemies,

    and as perfume upon you, its fragrant stain spreading swiftly.

  77. كأن اليماني حلَّ منها عيابه

    تفاوحُ من دارين فيها البضائعُ

    As though the Yemeni had unpacked his bales from it,

    with wares from Darin wafting fragrance within it.

  78. متى ضحكت لي من سمائك برقةٌ

    حكت لك أرضي كيف تزكو الصنائعُ

    Whenever a lightning flash smiles at me from your sky,

    my earth tells you how favors flourish.

  79. وإن كان يومٌ في الحوائج شافعاً

    إلى النجح إن المهرجان لشافعُ

    And if any day intercedes for requests

    to gain success, Mihrajan surely intercedes.